Acording to the 2012 census there are 313,914,040 living in the US. 76.3% of those are over the age of 18 or 239,516,412. At 500,000 with a 90 minute commute that is 0.2% of the adult population that has a 90 minute commute. Explain to me again how this is an issue.

My commute is 60 minutes without traffic, 75 minutes most mornings. I used to live 4 miles from work but moved between my job (which I like and didn't want to give up for a temporary arrangement) and my husband's post doc.

When we first moved in together we considered but rejected the idea of having him get a cheap apartment in his university's town and come down on weekends...in retrospect that probably would have been smarter and cheaper.

Carth:I should be in the kitchen: I love when other people tell me how terrible my commute is. Many of my coworkers live near work but I actually bought a house on the opposite side of town because I like the area better. It's 30 miles and takes about 35 minutes in the morning and 45 home. It's nothing compared to major cities like Atlanta but some people just like to biatch any time they have to drive more than 5 miles.

Well when you figure you're spending about an hour a day commuting, so 20 hours a month or 10 full days a year in your car that does seem pretty crazy. Life is too short to spend about 10% of your free time commuting to work.

I think I can spare an hour of my day if it means I get to live where I want. But your concern is noted.

addy2:Do they choose to commute that long because they like it or are stupid?

Mostly they underestimate the cost -- the direct costs of driving (or however else they get to work), the extra time they dedicate to work (without pay), etc. -- and overestimate the value of whatever drew them to their residence in the first place -- for example, people often say they prefer the larger house they can afford in the suburbs, but do little to evaluate how much that extra space is worth to them.

All of which leads people to make trades like "I want an extra bathroom and a brick grill in the back yard, and I can get that for the same price as a smaller house closer to work; it's only an extra 110 minutes and 60 miles each day". But if they did the math that's 458 hours (19 days) less free time and 15,000 miles more driving each year.

For some people that's worth the trade. For some people the time on the train/etc. might be valuable and not wasted. And of course there's a group of people that simply cannot move closer to their job for whatever reason (2 people working in different cities, financial hardship, etc.). But many people simply fail to do the math.

My commute's about to get longer (office is moving). How much longer, I'm not sure. Haven't driven it during rush hour (Dallas). I am hoping it's only about 30 minutes total (now it's about 15). I could move (ie, don't own house, don't have kids), but I really don't want to.

After awhile, moving becomes a bigger pain in the ass than driving. When you move, everything changes. You have to notify everybody for every service and take care of that shiat, give everybody your new address, pack up and move all your shiat, move, find all new places that you like to eat, grocery shop, etc. It's just not worth it to be a little closer to the job. Even if you don't have kids that would have to change schools and a spouse that a move would affect.

Or so I say now. Maybe after a year of driving longer 5 days a week, I'll change my mind.

Contrabulous Flabtraption:Rapmaster2000: Happy Hours: Studson: I live in Atlanta but commute just outside the perimeter. It takes me about 15 minutes each way, during rush hour.

Also, Marta is not only inconvenient (it runs in the shape of a cross and covers limited areas) but unreliable and not entirely safe. I wouldn't use it even if I didn't have such a short commute.

MARTA? Moving Afro Rapidly Through Atlanta?

My favorite thing about this joke is that in the 30 years I've heard it has two facets.

1. The person telling it never lives in Atlanta. These are the people that I imagine say Hotlanta which is another way to get groans from the locals.2. The person telling it seems to think they're busting out an original and witty zinger. If you hear it in person, you can see the sparkle in their eye as they unleash it followed by the anxious pause as they wait patiently for thunderous applause.

I don't know - last time I was in Atlanta I walked from Peachtree down to the Varsity and I was the only white guy I saw anywhere.

I think you're missing the point. A tired joke is a tired joke.

Also, what you said doesn't make a lot of sense. That's only about 3 blocks and it seems fairly unlikely that you didn't see any white people at the Varsity. As far as I can tell, they love that slop.

Day_Old_Dutchie:Forward-thinking leaders decentralize their offices to the 'burbs or allow telecommuting and take full advantage of tech available to eliminate the needless energy waste and frustrations.

The problem is those useless egotistical stubborn old coots that insist on running their business in an office tower in a downtown, and actually obtain satisfaction from being able to look out on row upon row of worker bees in their cubicles.

Farking Luddites need to be put out to pasture. Age does not always equate to wisdom.

And what if you live in a burg away from the job? Your commute has now doubled in length and probably tripped in time since the road weren't built for such traffic. Or do you only want employees who live in the same burg?

I suppose you could solve this by having some central burg where businesses all are and people live around to optimize commute time. It'd be even more efficient to have giant buildings there since none of those companies care that they don't have a backyard. Oh wait, we already have all that.

Marisyana:During a time where I didn't have a car, I got a job where I was forced to use mass transit. It took two buses and two hours to go about ten miles. Amazingly I did that for a year until I could finally afford a car. I couldn't imagine doing it for years and years but I know a lot of people who do.

Ten miles is a perfect distance for a bike. Even if you live in Minneapolis where its winter for several months, it would still take care of the spring/summer/fall.

Back in 2004, the Boston Globe did a story about a man who did a 340 mile round trip commute from Maine to Boston - every..single..day during the work week. He spent a daily 9 hour round trip getting to work and back. Unbelievable...

mmonnens:How many of these mega-commutes are because they have to live in the "perfect" house/neighborhood, or because they must be sure their kids get the best schools?

/unmarried? Yes.//Renter, yup, probably for life.

I live in Stockton, America's Most Miserable City 2012. I assure you I don't live in a "perfect" house, neighborhood, or school district.

In my industry, Sacramento (50-70 miles away) pays about 150% of what Stockton pays, while the Bay Area (50-100 miles away) pays over 200%. Even with the "recovery" housing in Stockton is cheap compared to Sacramento, and practically free compared to the Bay. San Joaquin County has one of the longest average commutes, for this reason.

ShawnDoc:I remember as a teen visiting my uncle in Bakersfield. I was looking at auto trader, and shocked at all the cars that were 2 years old and had 100k+ miles already. He told me a lot of people who live in Bakersfield actually work in Los Angeles (100 miles away), and commute up over the mountain to and from work each day.

Although it's not the cities you mention, for 2 years I drove 100 miles to work and 100 miles return trip. More recently I drove 50 miles each way. Currently at 25 miles each way.